Gwyneth Gibby, February 20, 2007
The call 911 dispatchers hate the most is, "Child not breathing."
On June 3, 2005, at about 1:45 p.m., a frantic Sarah Sheehan made that call. She had arrived at her boyfriend's house to find her daughter, 3-year-old Karly, lying limp on the floor of a bedroom. Karly's left eye was swollen shut with a large bruise. Her right eye was open and fixed. She was not breathing.
Police and paramedics tried to revive Karly for 45 minutes but failed. Doctors at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center pronounced her dead at 2:40 p.m.
The nurses and doctors in the emergency room were shocked at the extent of Karly's injuries. Dr. Carol Chervenak, an expert on child abuse who examined Karly after her death, counted 60 injuries all over Karly's tiny body, from her head to the bottoms of her feet.
Karly had been beaten to death.